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Vol. 2, No. 1: January 17, 2007
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The Ecosystem Marketplace's Community Forum
Connecting people to ecosystem markets
In this issue of the Ecosystem Marketplace’s Community Forum we: take a look at the idea of "social carbon" and a newly announced program in Brazil; examine whether aesthetic beauty can count as an environmental service in Kenya; report on a pilot program in El Salvador that promises to strengthen community institutions; and highlight how a biodiversity offset project can be used to support a community-based environmental management program in the United States. In our Profiles section, we interview Vanderlei de Castro and discuss with him how his agro-extractive reserves in the Brazilian savannas, or Cerrado, can provide environmental services. In the Viewpoint section, we feature one article on the current state of eco-certification programs for coffee and another that discusses the issues of integrating global and local values in biodiversity assessments. We follow up on the theme of integration by providing links to a guide for creating a participatory environmental monitoring program.
We hope you enjoy this edition of the Community Forum!
The Community Forum Goes Trilingual
In recognition of our many colleagues in Latin America, we have decided to publish the Community Forum in a mix of English, Spanish and Portuguese. For cases in which there are relevant documents available in either Spanish or Portuguese, the summary articles have been translated.
El Foro Comunitario Trilingüe
En reconocimiento a nuestras colegas en Latina América, decidimos escribir este boletín de noticias, Foro Comunitario, en una mezcla de inglés, español y portugués. Para los casos en que hay links de Internet a documentos relevantes en español o portugués, los artículos ya est´n traducidos. ¡Bienvenidos al Foro Comunitario!
Fórum Comunitário Trilingue
Em consideração aos nossos colegas no Brasil e em outros países de língua Portuguesa, decidimos também adicionar na medida do possível alguns artigos e resumos em Português ao boletin Fórum Comunitário. Estaremos incluindo links para artigos disponíveis na íntegra em Português. Sejam Bem Vindos ao Fórum Comunitário!
See Your Project Featured in the Community Forum
Link the communities you work with to the community of people around the globe involved in implementing payment for ecosystem services projects. The Community Forum is looking for projects to feature in our Around the World section of the newsletter and on our website. Gain recognition for your project and join in a dialogue with others worldwide by sending a short paragraph describing the project and some of the issues faced in implementing it to: communityforum@ecosystemmarketplace.com. We will then ask for a more detailed description from those projects we select to feature in the Community Forum.
– Elizabeth Shapiro, Community Forum
For comments or questions, please email: communityforum@ecosystemmarketplace.com
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Brazil – Can Carbon Offsets and Social Development go Hand in Hand?
At the recent United Nations climate change meetings in Nairobi, the Brazilian office of the development agency, CARE International, and CO2e, a carbon credit brokerage company, announced the launch of the CARE Brazil Social Carbon Fund. The concept of Social Carbon was developed by the Brazilian non-profit organization, Instituto Ecológica, which instituted the first carbon sequestration project in Brazil. According to their definition, Social Carbon is, "Carbon preserved or absorbed as a result of actions which improve the livelihoods of local communities that live and interact with emissions reduction projects. These actions must be monitored and evaluated in a participatory and transparent way." The CARE Brazil Social Carbon Fund program plans to sell US$55 million worth of carbon credits and use the funds to develop fourteen to twenty projects in four regions of Brazil where CARE currently runs social development projects. CO2e will serve as both brokers of the carbon credits and as technical consultants to ensure that projects meet the Clean Development Mechanism standards of the Kyoto Protocol.
Contact: Priscila Valdes, CARE Brazil
– CARE Brazil Social Carbon Fund website (English)
– Read the article describing the concept of Social Carbon (pdf) (English)
Brasil – É possível fazer com que programas de offsets de carbono contribuam com desenvolvimento social?
Durante a recente conferência das Nações Unidas sobre o clima em Nairobi a CARE International no Brasil e a CO2e, uma empresa de investimentos em creditos de carbono, anunciaram o lançamento do Fundo Care Brasil de Carbono Social. O conceito de Carbono Social foi desenvolvido pela organização Instituto Ecológica, a qual criou o primeiro projeto de sequestro de carbono no Brasil. O Instituo Ecológica define Carbono Social como "Carbono retido ou absorvido como resultado de atividades que promovem o bem estar de comunidades locais que vivem e interagem com projetos de redução de emissões de gás carbônico. Estas atividades devem ser monitoradas e avaliadas em forma participativa e transparente." O Fundo Care Brasil de Carbono Social planeja vender US$ 55 milhões (dólares) de créditos de carbono e aplicar esta renda para desenvolver 14 a 20 projetos em 4 regiões do Brasil onde a CARE atua em programas sociais. A CO2e irá comercializar os créditos de carbono e prover assistência técnica para assegurar que os projetos estejam de acordo com os Mecanismos de Desenvolvimento Limpo do Protocolo de Kyoto.
Pessoa para contato: Priscila Valdes, CARE Brazil
– Link a Fundo CARE Brasil de Carbono Social Página da Internet (Portuguesa)
– Link a Instituto Ecológica página de Internet (Portuguesa)
Kenya – Capturing the Value of Natural Beauty: The Shompole Eco-Lodge
by Ryan Booth
Is aesthetic beauty an ecosystem service? If it is, how can its value be captured? The Maasai Shompole community of Kenya is working to answer these questions. The community has partnered with a private investor and a non-profit organization to create a wildlife conservancy area and a high-end, eco-friendly hotel for visitors to enjoy the beauty of the locale. The Shompole Eco-Lodge was first opened in 2001 and has since become a model for other community-based ecotourism ventures. A recent Ecosystem Marketplace article takes a look at the origins of the project and how it has impacted the Shompole and surrounding communities.
– Read the Ecosystem Marketplace article
El Salvador – National Fund Pays Upstream Farmers for Environmental Services
The World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has provided US$14 million for a pilot project to establish a national fund for payment for environmental services in El Salvador. The intention of the pilot project is to develop payment for hydrological services in two to five key watersheds and create the infrastructure so that the fund, called FONASA, can be used to develop and support programs throughout the country. The project plans to create agreements between the various users of environmental services and hillside farmers who will be paid to reforest or manage existing forestry and agroforestry systems. The good news for community-based organizations is that the innovative program explicitly recognizes the importance of local institutions and provides funding for the strengthening of communities and the non-profits that work with them.
– World Bank/GEF Project Document (English)
– World Bank Project website (English)
El Salvador – Fondo Nacional por Servicios Ambientales Producidos por los Agricultores de las Zonas Altas de Cuencas
El Banco Mundial y el Fondo para el Medio Ambiente Mundial han dado US$14 millones por un proyecto piloto para establecer un fondo nacional de pago por servicios ambientales en El Salvador. La intención del proyecto es desarrollar sistemas de pago por servicios hidrológicos en dos á cinco cuencas importantes y crear la infraestructura para que el fondo, que se llama FONASA, pueda ser utilizado para desarrollar sistemas parecidos en todo el país. El plan del proyecto es fomentar acuerdos entre los usuarios de los servicios ambientales y agricultores de terrenos con alto pendiente, quienes serán pagados para reforestar o manejar sistemas forestales o agroforestales actuales. La buena noticia para las organizaciones comunitarias es que este proyecto innovador explícitamente promueve el fortalecimiento institucional de comunidades y las asociaciones civiles que colaboran con ellas.
– Link al documento con descripción del programa (p. 16-19) (pdf) (Español)
– Link a una presentación (Power Point) (Español)
United States – Leon River Restoration Program Promotes Birds not Bombs
When the United States Fish and Wildlife Service restricted access to 28,000 hectares of the Fort Hood Army base in the state of Texas because it was prime habitat for two endangered bird species, both the army and the cattle farmers who had leased the land for grazing had to look for alternatives. What resulted was a habitat restoration program supported by a surprising coalition of groups: environmental non-profit organizations; United States government agencies; Texas A&M University; and the Central Texas Cattlemen’s Association. The resulting Leon River Restoration Program pays private landowners in the region surrounding Fort Hood to control an invasive species of tree in a way that protects habitat for the bird species while at the same time promoting the restoration of grazing land and increasing surface water flow. Part of the funding for the program has come from a biodiversity offset project established with Fort Hood in which the United States Army pays land owners to increase the area under restoration. In return, the Army regains access to the same amount of formerly restricted land on the base. The biodiversity offset project is an important example demonstrating how payment for environmental services can complement other funding sources for community-based environmental management programs.
Contact: Steve Manning, General Manager, Leon River Restoration Program
– Read the article on the Leon River Restoration Program (p. 6-8) (pdf)
– Read a description of the biodiversity offset program (pdf)
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Vanderlei de Castro: Bringing Brazil's Cerrado Back to Life
by Alice Kenny
Vanderlei de Castro has spent the last ten years creating what he has termed "agro extractive reserves" in the Cerrado eco-region of Brazil. Based on Chico Mendez’s model of ecosystem stewardship combined with improved livelihoods, de Castro’s non-profit organization, AGROTEC, is working with small farmers to reclaim and restore land degraded from years of intensive soybean production and grazing. The Ecosystem Marketplace learns about his life and goals as he looks for a way to link tradition and technology with payments for ecosystem services.
– Read the full Ecosystem Marketplace article
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What's the Buzz? Ecosystem Services and Coffee
by Erik Ness
Those of you working with small coffee farmers know that higher prices can often be gained through certification. Organic, Rainforest Alliance, Smithsonian Bird-Friendly, Utz Kapeh, 4C’s, Starbuck’s CAFÉ Practices – all of these certification programs recognize and promise higher premiums for the ecosystem services produced by the low-input, shade grown coffee systems that are the trademark of small farmers throughout the tropics. The market for "eco-friendly" coffee is growing every year, but this growth signals changes in how certification works and who is involved that could have serious implications for small coffee farmers. The Ecosystem Marketplace visits the frontlines of the certification debate.
– Read the full Ecosystem Marketplace article
Integrating Global and Local Values: A Review of Biodiversity Assessment
by Sonja Vermeulen and Izabella Koziell
What is biodiversity? What is it good for? Who will benefit from its conservation? How can its local value be balanced with its value to the global conservation community? These are tough and often divisive questions, but ones that must be answered by anyone implementing a community-based payment for environmental service program based on biodiversity conservation. In this clearly written issue paper, these and other related issues are dealt with head on. It describes and provides references for a number of different methods of assessing biodiversity and its value, from those that can be used at local levels to those most commonly employed by international policy makers and national governments. The authors conclude by making a number of valuable and pragmatic suggestions for integrating local values for biodiversity by either modifying existing techniques or employing alternate assessment methodologies. In short, this paper is a must-read for anyone involved in community-based biodiversity conservation programs.
– Download the full paper on the IIED website
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Changing Views on Change: Participatory Approaches to Monitoring the Environment
by Jo-Anne Abbot and Irene Guijt
In order to market environmental services it is essential to monitor and quantify the services produced. Unfortunately, environmental monitoring methods can be so costly and technically complex as to be a barrier for the implementation of community-based payment for environmental service programs. This very informative and clearly written manual discusses the key steps in creating environmental monitoring programs that include the perspective and expertise of local participants, but which meet the needs of outside stakeholders as well. Case studies are presented throughout and provide important context to the issues and methods discussed.
– Download the file (pdf) (English)
Perspectivas Cambiantes sobre el Cambio: Enfoques Participativos para Monitoreo del Medio Ambiente
por Jo-Anne Abbot y Irene Guijt
Para vender servicios ambientales es imprescindible monitorear y cuantificar los servicios producidos. Desafortunadamente, el monitoreo ambiental puede ser tan caro y técnicamente complejo que crea una barrera contra la implementación de proyectos de pago por servicios ambientales comunitarios. Este manual, muy informativo y claramente escrito, examina los pasos claves en desarrollar programas de monitoreo ambiental que considera la perspectiva y experiencia de los participantes local es mientras también satisface los requisitos de los demás participantes. Estudios de caso son incluidos y proveen un contexto importante para los temas y métodos discutidos.
– Sito de Internet donde se puede bajar el archivo (pdf) (Español)
Novas Visões Sobre Mudança Ambiental: Abordagens Participativas de Monitoramento
por Jo-Anne Abbot e Irene Guijt
Para vender serviços ambientais é imprescindível monitorar e quantificar os serviços que são produzidos. Infelizmente o monitoramento ambiental pode ser tão caro e técnicamente complexo que cria uma barreira que dificulta a implementação de projetos comunitários de pagamento por serviços ambientais. Este manual examina as estapas principais para se desenvolver programas de monitoramento ambiental considerando a perspectiva e experiência das comunidades locais.
– Link a Página da Internet (pdf) (Portuguesa)
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